A Strange Way to Save the World – December 22, 2024, the Fourth Sunday of Advent
(Isaiah 11:1-9), Luke 2:1-20
December 22, 2024
So I have to start out today by saying that I “borrowed” the title of this sermon from that of a song sung by the Christian band called “4 Him.” The song is called “A Strange Way to Save the World.” It’s a song about the birth of Jesus from the perspective of Joseph. And it’s a great thought! Because what God did in Jesus, must have seemed to him “a strange way to save the world!”
We looked at Joseph’s story last year during Advent. And I think it’s a very interesting story. We can only imagine what it was like for him to be told that Mary was “with child!” And if we think about it, we can understand his decision to break with her “quietly” when he learned about it. But then he too had a visit from an angel. (There was a lot of that in those days!) And afterwards, he “did as the angel commanded. He took Mary as his wife.” (Matthew 1:24)
But I still have to wonder about Joseph. Even after he heard the angel say that this child would save his people from their sins, I’m sure it still seemed unbelievable to him. And it certainly seemed to be “a strange way to save the world.” And our story for today seems to bear that out!
We begin today with this decree from the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, who, by the way, is the one who gave us the name of our month of August! He’s part of the reason our Summer is the only time of the year that we have two months of 31 days in a row! Because another Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar, wanted his own month, too. That’s our month of July. So those two guys messed up a lot of things! They pushed back the rest of the months. “September,” which literally means “the seventh month,” is now our ninth month. And it’s the same with “October,” which means “eighth month,” and “November,” which means “ninth month.” They’re all two months off. And of course we’re now in “December” which means the “tenth month. (Silly Romans, huh?)
So, Caesar Augustus – the “August” guy – said “We’ve got to ‘enroll’ everybody.” Now, that sounds like a “census” of some kind, doesn’t it? But what does it really have to do with? “Taxes!” Right? In fact, that’s what the old King James Bible says. “A decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.” (Luke 2:1 KJV) And of course that brings up all kinds of thoughts and feelings in us, doesn’t it!
Well, the upshot of this was that everybody had to go to their own town. I’m not sure why that had to be, except that maybe that’s where the people’s birth records would have been. Because, of course, Caesar didn’t have access to a database to figure out who and where everybody was! (If he did, maybe in would be under [email protected]!”)
Well, there wasn’t any such thing. So Joseph had to go to from Nazareth, to Bethlehem. And this is where we learn that he “was of the house and lineage of David.” Yes, he was a poor carpenter, and possibly even one who tended the tools of a carpenter. That word could mean either. But, he was of royal lineage!
So he had to go. And this was, by all accounts, an arduous journey, especially with a wife who was “with child.” And here’s another place where the King James helps us more. That version says she was “great with child!” So we can just imagine. And as the story goes, they get there and there is “no room for them.”
As Pastor Kari pointed out a few weeks ago, that meant, that there was no place in the residence for them and so they went to stay in that section of what was likely a cave, where the people kept their animals. (I don’t know, Kari, you broke down a lot of people’s mental images!) But that’s where the Messiah was born. And yes, as wonderfully as that has been depicted throughout the years, still that does seem “a strange way to save the world!”
But it gets even stranger! Because not far away, there were some shepherds out in the field “keeping watch over their flocks by night.” And I’m not sure where shepherds were on “the social scale” – in comparison with carpenters – but my understanding is that they were both pretty low on that scale! And yet, to those shepherds, came this great announcement about the birth of the Savior – the Messiah! And no, this was not just a huge, heavenly announcement to the whole world, that these shepherds happened to be in the vicinity of, and were close enough to see. No. This announcement was directed to them specifically.
I’m sure these guys were good enough Jews to know what the angel was saying to them. But even if they weren’t, there was no doubt that “this thing” they were being told was momentous. And there was no doubt that it was God who “made it known” to them! And he made it known to shepherds! And if you think about it, what a strange way to save the world!
At first, it was one angel, telling the “good news of great joy.” But after that announcement, it suddenly became all the angels! One angel was frightening enough! As I’ve often said, the first thing an angel usually said to someone was, “Be not afraid.” And that was true in this case. But, as frightening as one angel was, I don’t think we can even begin to imagine how frightening was this “heavenly host!” And Luke says “suddenly!” I wonder what that looked like. Did they just appear out of thin air? All at once? Was the sky instantly lit up like daytime? We all have mental pictures of that, but I’m sure they are all very much inadequate!
So, the angels leave, and these shepherds go to Bethlehem. And they find it just as the angel said. They find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. And as you know, a manger was the food trough where they fed the animals! And yes! What a strange way to save the world!
Now, we now read these stories as holy scripture! And all of it – the poor family, the small town, the manger, the animals, the shepherds – that’s all part of the big picture of how God did save the world! And it was God’s plan was not just to become a human being like us, but to become an ordinary human being like us! And that’s what Jesus was! And that story – the story of God humbling himself completely, and later dying, in the most humiliating and horrific way – that story, is at the heart of our Gospel!
Paul said it so beautifully to the Philippians! “Have this mind among you, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be held on to, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-9) What a strange way to save the world!
So as you prepare for yet another anniversary, another celebration of this event, may these stories, and these images, fill your thoughts. So this sermon is not over! My challenge to you is that you let everything you see and everything you think about this week, be a reminder to you that this was truly, “A strange way to save the world!” But, isn’t it an incredible, amazing, and wonderful way!
Prayer
Eternal God, we are humbled by the story we celebrate this time of year. Help us to be certain of your great love for each of us “ordinary” people, and to know that your love is the reason you made all of this happen. And in all things, we give you thanks and praise, as we pray in the name of the child of Bethlehem, Amen.